Chasing Silhouettes (TV series)
Chasing Silhouettes is a Ryanland science fiction television series created by Adam Harzela, Robert Staven and George Valley. It premiered on the RTN network on January 8, 2009. The series follows FBI Agents Natasha Scott (Rebekah Millner), Chris Mitchell (David Blakely) and Stuart Young (Steven Malbourne). The three agents are given a case in which the realise the world is not as it seems. They, along with scientist Richard Gray (Seth Grabel) and Computer Specialist, Amanda Sullivan (Blair Anders), investigate extreme and unexplained occurences. The series has been called, the Ryanland version of Fringe. The series' format combines elements of serial drama with procedural dramas and sometimes has a more traditional "mystery of the week" setup. While some episodes contain a standalone plot, with several other episodes creating series arc's and continuation. On May 14, 2013, RTN renewed the series for a sixth season. Premise Chasing Silhouettes ''follows the investigations of extreme and unexplained scientific occurences, supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which includes Agent. Natasha Scott, Agent. Chris Mitchell and Agent. Stuart Young, Richard Gray; a scientist and Amanda Sullivan; a computer specialist. They are supported by Nicolas Henry, the director of the group. Characters 'Main characters' *Rebekah Millner as Natasha Scott (season 1–present) *David Blakely as Chris Mitchell (season 1–present) *Steven Malbourne as Stuart Young (season 1–present) *Seth Grabel as Doctor Richard Gray (season 1–present) *Richard Bleike as Nicolas Henry (season 1–present) *Nina Edwards as Jada Johnson (recurring season 2; series regular, season 3-present) *Olivia Ware as Emma Contage (season 3-present) *Tina Wynters as Rachel Young (recurring seasons 1-4; series regular season 4) 'Former main characters' *Blair Anders as Amanda Sullivan (season 1–5; appears in the first episode of season 6) Production Co-creator Adam Harzela's inspiration for Chasing Silhouettes came from the highly popular 2008-present American science-fiction television series, Fringe. The specific story for Chasing Silhouettes was developed during long conversations between series creators Harzela, Robert Staven and George Valley. The team were discussing several different options, with the most likely being a story in which a woman finds an organization which deals with supernatural occurences, however this idea was never used, but a similar plot to that is featured in the 2012 GenerationTV series The Blind Spot. In the end the team decided on a story in which three FBI agents get involved in investigating mysterious occurences involving science fiction. The first actor to be cast in the pilot was Richard Bleike in mid February 2008. David Blakely and Seth Grabel were the next to be cast, although it was believed incorrectly that J.D. Knight had been cast in Blakely's role, however he did audition for the role. This was followed by the casting of both Blair Anders and Rebekah Millner. Harzela stated that Millner was cast because she was a combination between great talent, amazing looks, strength and power which were all important in the role of Natasha. The last series regular to be cast was Steven Malbourne. There was believed another role for the character "Diana Roberts", Dr. Richard Gray's ex-wife. The creators were apparently looking at casting Eva Marie Cophen. However the role was never written into the show. The pilot was picked up on March 19, 2008 and was picked up to a series on May 14, 2008. While the series was supposed to premiere in September 2008, but everything was behind schedule, so RTN announced it would premiere mid-season. It was supposed to premiere in February 2009 with only 13 episodes, however the network moved the series forward to premiere on January 8, 2009, with 18 episodes in total. Reception 'U.S. Nielsen ratings and series renewal' ''Chasing Silhouettes premiered in the 2008-09 Ryanland television season at the regular timeslot of 8:00 pm Western on Thursdays after the end of the eleventh season of popular reality show, America's Next Top Model. The first episode ran for 81 minutes, and all episodes following it ran for an extended time of 50 minutes each. Before America's Next Top Model returned for it's twelth season in March, Kevin Ulrich, RTN's Entertainment President, revealed that the show would be moving to Tuesday nights at 10:00 pm Western starting March 17, 2009. This move was caused by two different factors; the return of America's Next Top Model and the fact that the show was less appropriate for the 8:00 pm hour in terms of content. Following it's move to Tuesdays, the series was renewed for a second season of 25 episodes. For it's second season, the series moved to Thursday's at 10:00 pm Western and it's ratings were still strong despite the episodes being reduced to 43 minutes approximately, creating more commercial time, and it was renewed for a third season of 24 episodes on March 4, 2010. Season 4 premiered on September 23, 2011 in the same slot as the second season, and although viewers had declined to under 9 million and ratings had dropped substantially, because of declining ratings on the network as a whole, the series was renewed for a fourth season on April 29, 2011. At the RTN upfronts on May 19, 2011, Kevin Ulrich announced that despite the fact that the show still had good, solid ratings, it would be moving to Friday nights at 8:00 pm Western. This timeslot and night itself is commonly known as the "Friday night death slot", because many shows that are moved there get cancelled. However many shows have actually succeeded in this slot, some successes are Lost, House and 24 which all began in the slot and Lost ran for six seasons from 2004-2010, House ran for eight seasons, from 2004-2012 and 24 ran for eight seasons, running from 2001-2009. When Chasing Silhouettes premiered in the Friday slot for the first time, it's ratings were still very high in terms of Friday and since then has regulary been the highest rated show of the night. It's viewing numbers have also improved since the third season. On April 9, 2012, RTN renewed the series for a fifth season. At the 2012 RTN upfronts, despite the fact it could do much better on another night, the network decided to keep the series in the same slot next year. Kevin Ulrich stated that "Chasing Silhouettes is the highest rated original series on Friday nights this season, and even though we could move it to another night, we have decided to keep it in the same place to use as an anchor to new series and boost RTN's average ratings for the night.